1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a coating tool to be used for applying protection liquid for protecting information such as images on the recording surface of a recording medium recorded typically by means of an ink-jet recording system and also to a coating set including such a coating tool.
2. Related Background Art
As a result of the technological developments for forming images with an increased number of gradations by using smaller recording liquid droplets in recent years, ink-jet recording apparatus have been made to be capable of recording not only texts of characters but also pictures that are comparable to photographs in terms of tone on a recording medium such as a sheet of paper. At the same time, due to the widespread use of digital cameras, it has been made possible to output and record not only texts and designed images but also photograph-like pictures and graphic arts with the level of image quality comparable to that of images displayed on the display screen. Under these circumstances, ink-jet recording apparatus are further expanding their applicable field. Then, by turn, the images recorded on recording mediums are required to be conservable and durable without changing the image quality with time. In other words, they are required to show a long service life.
Recorded images show an excellent coloring effect if they are recorded on an appropriate recording medium typically by using dye-type inks but may be less durable and conservable. To the contrary, images recorded by using pigment-type inks are highly conservable but may not be satisfactory in terms of coloring effect and scratch-resistance.
Therefore, from the viewpoint of conserving recorded images for a long period of time, measures have to be taken for improving the durability of images recorded by using pigment-type inks. Similarly, measures have to be taken for developing methods of protecting dye-type coloring materials that are poorly durable. Known methods of protecting recorded images include the use of film-forming resin such as acryl type resin for protection film that is typically produced by lamination of resin on the recorded image.